I found this at a site that has a lot of smart things to say about journalism:

But there are probably just as many–or more–people rooting heartily for papers and journalism to fail, for political reasons.

Twenty-five years ago, a smart professor and editor of mine named Charles “Puff” Puffenbarger told me something about news audiences that I’ll always remember: “They hate us out there.” It appears that’s true more now than ever.

The mind boggles. How can a for-profit business be so flippant about alienating their customers.

David Gerlenter relates a more telling and more recent anecdote in Drawing Life:

“Today’s elite loathes the public. Nothing personal, just a fundamental difference in world view, but the hatred is unmistakable. Occasionally it escapes in scorching geysers. Michael Lewis reports in the New Republic on the ’96 Dole presidential campaign: ‘The crowd flips the finger at the busloads of journalists and chant rude things at them as they enter each arena. The journalists, for their part, wear buttons that say ‘yeah, i’m the Media. Screw You.’ The crowd hates the reporters, the reporters hate the crowd– an even matchup, except that the reporters wield power and the crowed (in effect) wields none.”

The media arrogance might remain, but the audience’s powerlessness is a thing of the past. Some talk back; even more stop buying the product.

For decades journalists delighted in bringing bad news to the doorstep of their readers. Now the bad news is in the newsroom and the game is not fun anymore. Now it sucks to be a Decider.

The first quote panned by Lead and Gold comes from a blogger who calls himself “Recovering Journalist”, who writes:

Over on the other side of the political aisle, there’s a whole cadre of people passionately rooting for the death of media outlets they see as liberally biased. And the kinds of things they say make Polis look positively temperate.

Want a taste? Jump into any of the discussions here, at FreeRepublic.com, one of the leading right-wing Web sites. A regular feature called “Dinosaur Media Death Watch” chronicles every development in the decline of the journalism business in detail that surpasses even Romenesko–except that these dispatches are accompanied by unalloyed glee. The standard comment about newspaper layoffs or closings is something along the lines of “good riddance.” You’ll see similar sentiments expressed at other conservative sites. It’s nasty stuff.

Of course, no true journalist would want to see another journalist or pundit put out of business. Such an attitude is unthinkable amongst self-styled media elites.

6 Comments, 6 Threads

1.
Django

“You’ll see similar sentiments expressed at other conservative sites. It’s nasty stuff.”

Oh, please. That’s like someone beating and mistreating a dog for years and years and years and then being surprised when it bites you. Or runs away, which is what moderate and conservative readership have done relative to newspapers.

It’s amusing to see the death of newspapers laid 100% at the feet of the internet. Media people refuse to recognize the fact that they’ve made their product insulting and repellent to large segments of the population as being the main problem. “No, no, it’s all because of the internet!” They’d rather go out of business than come down off of the pedestal on which they’ve placed themselves.

What’s sadder and even more disturbing than the bias is the decline in critical thinking and the lack of what I guess you could call rebelliousness in the press. It is not even necessary to read a NY Times article on any given issue because it is already known to readers – left, right and center – what sort of politically correct lecture will be contained in the article. THAT is the really damaging consequence that follows when papers become nothing more than party organs instead of news sources.

I was convinced back in 2003 that the New York Times was in an irreversible decline. It was obvious the Old Gray Lady had finally lost the trust of its center-left readership. Only the whacked-out leftists would remain loyal. And I therefore concluded that the Schultzberg family might soon sell the paper. Logically, it seemed inevitable. But it didn’t happen! What in hell was the family thinking? It has forevermore lost hundreds of millions of dollars. I simply shrug my shoulders in amazement.